Weather and Traffic

Tropical Storm Cindy forms in Central Atlantic

The season’s third named storm, Tropical Storm Cindy, formed Wednesday in the open Atlantic. It was not a threat to land.

Cindy had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was moving northeast at a brisk 24 mph. The storm was centered at 35.2N 53.8W, directly east of the North Carolina coast.

The system was expected to be short-lived as it spins toward the cooler water of the North Atlantic. It was forecast to become post-tropical by Friday morning. No coastal watches or warnings were posted.

Meanwhile, Tropical Storm Bret, to the west-southwest of Cindy, had lost some of its punch. At 5 p.m., it had sustained winds of 45 mph and was moving northeast at 8 mph, the National Hurricane Center reported.

Bret won’t affect land either and was forecast to be downgraded to a depression by Friday morning.

But the tropical wave at 45W, approaching the Windward Islands, was getting more attention Wednesday afternoon from major computer models. Some of them predict a strong tropical storm will be over the Bahamas by next Tuesday, according to Jeff Masters at Weather Underground.

“If this wave does develop, it may recurve before hitting the U.S., since the models agree that there will be a large trough of low pressure present over the U.S. East Coast early next week,” he said in his blog Wednesday afternoon.